Tag Archive: BlackBerry

Rumors of an Android (and iOS for that matter) version of BlackBerry Messenger go way back. We first heard of such possibility at the beginning of March but there was no official confirmation from Research in Motion.

The picture above is allegedly showing off BlackBerry Messenger on Android. The phone is a Blackberry Android Dev Phone with stuck-on buttons but the screen seems to display an early build of RIM’s popular Messenger. According to reports, BlackBerry Messenger for Android might be rolled out at BlackBerry DevCon in San Francisco between October 18 – 20. As always with leaks, make sure you’re a bit skeptical when judging.

For a smartphone maker whose turnaround effort hasn’t quite gone as planned, forcing it into a strategic review of its business options, even the small victories are cause for celebration.

No surprise, then, that BlackBerry today issued a press release touting a small order for its new Q10 smartphone. Evidently, Hispanic broadcaster Univision Communications has agreed to purchase 2,000 units of the keyboarded handset, which it will use to upgrade all corporate-issued BlackBerrys.

Hardly a large order. Indeed, it’s woefully small compared to the purchases BlackBerry typically touts via press release. Recall that, back in March, the company announced a one-million-handset deal.

Which is not to say that smaller handset orders like these aren’t victories. Just that BlackBerry’s announcement of it on its own is curious. If the company is having trouble landing big enterprise orders for its new handsets, its best hope is to score lots and lots of smaller ones. That a pioneering smartphone vendor of BlackBerry’s size and history announced this small Univision buy on its own today suggests that perhaps the company is having trouble landing those smaller orders, as well. And that’s not a good sign.

If BlackBerry is landing larger enterprise engagements, where are the announcements? If it’s racking up smaller buys, why weren’t those noted along with Univision adding more heft to today’s press release?

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This new, one of a kind, universal phone case with stand will protect your mobile phone all around. Made of high quality, textured PU leather material with soft, micro suede interior lining. This universal phone case was designed with two functions in mind: aside from protecting your gadget from the elements, you can also use this cover as stand; perfect for watching movies / videos/ typing or web browsing. Universal design

BlackBerry executive chair and interim CEO John Chen just accepted what is arguably the most challenging job in tech – and perhaps the worst, as well. But he’s being well compensated for taking it on.

Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Chen is to receive a yearly salary of $1 million, along with a performance bonus of $2 million. He has also been awarded 13 million restricted shares in the company.

Currently worth about $85 million, those shares are scheduled to vest over the next five years. A quarter of them will become payable after three years, another quarter after four years, and the remaining 50 percent after five years.

It’s a massive compensation package, particularly for a company undergoing a brutal restructuring that will see it sack some 4,500 employees. But evidently it was crucial to bringing Chen onboard. “Once we saw John Chen, we had to work to make sure we could attract him,” Prem Watsa, CEO of BlackBerry’s largest shareholder, Fairfax Financial, said of Chen’s deal.

And, to be fair, Chen does seem a promising hire for the foundering BlackBerry. He has turned around a similarly troubled business before: Sybase. When Chen joined that company as CEO in 1998, it was nearly at death’s door. Some 13 years later, Chen had sold it to SAP for $5.8 billion – more than 15 times the company’s market cap when he took up the reins.

Shelly made an appearance on Always Mountain Time radio and hit on a wide array of topics in tech: the Connected World, how small businesses have had to change over the years and the different types of media that businesses have to deal with. He also talks about cell phones: why everyone hates the iPhone 5, why you should love the Galaxy S IV, why the Lumia 1020 matters, and why you’d want to buy the BlackBerry Q10.

Back in the day, owning a smartphone (pretty much) meant owning a BlackBerry. If you needed to get work done on the go, a BlackBerry was THE phone to get. Being a “CrackBerry addict” was a badge of honor and, if a high school kid had one – he or she was absolutely in the “in” crowd because BBM was the “cool kids” social media tool of choice.

That was then. Today, in a world dominated by touchscreens and (most importantly) apps, having a BlackBerry screams to all the world about your “old school” roots or that the IT department at your job is so antiquated that it is forcing you to use this distant relative of a modern-day device.

Whether you’re on iOS or Android – which, according to StatCounter, combine to make up over 60 percent of the mobile market – you have access to hundreds of thousands of apps. Apps define today’s mobile experience more so than any other feature on your phone. Secondary mobile platforms, like Windows Phone and BlackBerry, simply can’t compete; their app stores are suboptimal when compared to Apple and Google.

But do they need to compete?

Back in January, BlackBerry showed off its newest operating system, alongside its new flagship phone, the Z10 (which recently had its price slashed all the way down to $49.99 after poor sales in its first six months). The Z10 was a smartphone modeled after top-tier phones like iPhone and Galaxy S III, and featured a 4.2″ touchscreen. But much like Windows Phone, a lack of app support and lackluster hardware made the Z10 a nonstarter.

Perhaps the last act of a desperate organization, BlackBerry recently launched the Q10, which is a return to the familiar BlackBerry form factor for hardcore BlackBerry fans. The Q10 has a keyboard and a small, but serviceable touch screen.

So – what makes the phone special? Is it worth buying? Should you switch from your iPhone or Android to a Q10? Is it worth an upgrade from older BlackBerry phones?

What Makes it Special?

The Q10 is the BlackBerry that should have come out three years ago. It’s the next generation BlackBerry with a keyboard, and anyone who is a BlackBerry fan is going to want this phone.

The Q10 looks like your traditional Blackberry. It has a 720 720 pixel touchscreen that takes up the top of the device, and a physical keyboard on the bottom. The phone resembles the BlackBerry Bold, the most popular BlackBerry device of a generation long past. There’s no track ball on the Q10 as the touchscreen renders it obsolete.

If you want flawless e-mail and texting with a physical keyboard – and don’t need much more than that out of a smartphone – this is the device for you. I’d forgotten how nice it feels to type on a physical keyboard. I’ve been a glass keyboard user for quite some time, between my new Galaxy S IV and the iPhones I’ve had for the past few years.

What Are the Downsides?

Try as it might, BlackBerry is not an app-driven platform. If you’re an app person, this isn’t the phone for you; you’re going to want to stick to an iPhone or high-end Android device. (But you already know this.)

We live in a world where new phones have to have all kinds of new capabilities. Apps really make the phone. Since Steve Jobs created the App Store and let third-party developers take his platform to the next level, having a bountiful app store is a necessity for a smartphone to succeed.

It is important to understand that the BlackBerry App Store does have apps for the most popular services: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Sports, News, Weather, etc. It just doesn’t go deep and, to be frank, it never will.

The BlackBerry is not an AppPhone; Androids & iPhones are not BlackBerrys

If you hold up a Galaxy S IV next to the Q10, side-by-side, even a person who’s never used a smartphone before will be able to tell that the devices are very, very different.

It’s easy to tell which is the better, more modern phone.

There’s no contest. A 720 720 screen – even with a nice, physical keyboard – isn’t enough to make up for the lack of screen real estate that the S IV (or other phones of its size) provides. The Q10 is not a device you will enjoy reading an eBook with, nor will you care for its web browsing experience. That said: in a pinch, it will do.

Should You Upgrade?

The BlackBerry Q10 has one purpose and one purpose only: If you’re a BlackBerry Bold or Curve user, and you want the next-generation BlackBerry, it’s here. The Q10 has 4G LTE, an app store with basic essentials and a decent camera. If you’re sporting a Bold or Curve – or, if you already have an iPad or other tablet and simply need the best possible typing experience available on a handheld device. upgrade to the Q10 now.

If you’re anyone else… $199 with a two-year contract will put you in a much more powerful, much more capable device running Android 4.2.x. Did I forget to mention the iPhone 5? Yep. That is not a device you should be considering right now. It’s already two-year-old technology. If you’re in the market for a smartphone or app phone right now, go with Samsung, Sony, LG or HTC. Apple has a lot of catching up to do.

We have heard many rumors about BlackBerry working on a new flagship smartphone called the BlackBerry A10. The device has even shown up in a short video and in some leaked pictures. The rumored specs are that the BlackBerry A10 will have a 5 inch display, a dual core processor 2GB of RAM.